Tuesday, December 20, 2016

WOTP Interview: Stephanie, Young Adult Author

Second in Writers Yet to Query or Be Published is the NaNoWriMo victor Stephanie! She talks about her 2016 NaNo novel and tips on getting ideas on the page.


To start things off on a personal note, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?

My name is Stephanie and I am twenty eight year old from New Jersey. I have completed and won National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), in 2014, and I am competing again this year (2016). I also write different articles and posts for my blog. I write mostly about theatre and I write about books. Other than writing I really enjoy musical theatre as both a performer, tech crew, and an audience member. I’ve been doing musical theatre since around age nine, and it is a huge part of my life.

I read a lot of Young Adult Fiction and a lot of different classic novels. I’m the kind of person that is an avid TV junkie, and I watched a lot of different shows on TV and Netflix.  I am in school getting my BS in General Studies, but I have three AA’s in: Theatre, Journalism, and English. I want to be a writer and a journalist when I’m done with school.

What novel are you currently working on? And what is it about in a few sentences?

The novel I’m currently working on is called A NOT SO ORDINARY LIFE. It’s a young adult real life fiction aimed at teens and adults that enjoy reading young adult fiction. The novel itself is about two twins named Phoebe and Lizzie who are fostered after they’re born, and it talks about them and their foster family. I also talk about their mother, Scarlett, and where she is in her life at that time. I jump around between the present, the past, Scarlett, and doing a trans media post which is Phoebe’s journal or Lizzie’s blog entry.

If you can remember, where did the idea A NOT SO ORDINARY LIFE come from?

Steph's writing area
The odd thing is that the idea for A NOT SO ORDINARY LIFE came to me one day, and I just had this idea about twins that were fostered from a young age and didn’t know their mother. After I had found the two characters the plot wrote itself, and it just kind of flowed from there.

Who is your favorite character from your novel and why?

In my current novel it’s my character Phoebe. I designed her a bit like me but a little bit different from who I am and how I act. She is my favorite because she and I have the same interest. For example, she wants to be a journalist.

Do you have any tips for people who have “always wanted to write” but have never actually attempted it?

My biggest tip is to just get the novel down on paper if you have an idea. If you don’t have an idea yet, but you have the start of an idea just start with what you have and expand on that. Think about the stories that you read, and the characters that you already love, and write a story like that. Just write even if it’s anything that doesn’t make sense write the story that you want down, and edit it later.

How do you find the time to write? Do you give yourself a strict schedule or do you have a different plan of attack?

I find the time to write by using NaNoWriMo sprints on twitter. I do follow a strict schedule of three or four hours a day, this works most days because I’m a planner and it’s the way that I live my life every day. For days when I’m busy I use the time that I have, and I just will either write in the morning before I need to do other things.  

Finally, what are your future aspirations as a writer?

As I was saying before, I’d like to be a writer of fiction mostly in the Young Adult genre, but one day I would love to write a historical fiction novel because I have always loved History. I’d also like to write reviews and recaps for entertainment: Broadway shows, TV, Books, and Movies, I would love to just write to write, and hope that people enjoy the things that I’m writing. 

Thanks so much for stopping by Stephanie! I wish you the best with your NaNo novel!

If you want to keep in touch with Stephanie, check out her accounts below:





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